tonight, congress told america it saved america from the fiscal cliff. but that doesn't add up. why the usa is at the bottom of the canyon tonight. plus chris christie goes ballistic on the hated congress and john boehner. we'll show the outburst to you. and two new yorkers have been arrested with the means and the no how for a terrorist attack. let's go "outfront."

good evening, everyone. "outfront" tonight, america, or homer simpson. like homer, we blythely skated to the precipice of the fiscal cliff with a deal that made almost everyone happy. low tax rate, extended benefits. sure sounds heavenly. but look what happens next. >> i'm going to make it. this is the greatest thrill of my life. i'm king of the world! woo-hoo! >> yeah, that's how it ends. that feeling of weightless euphoria the thrill of our lives believing there was no way he would ever crash there would be a last minute save. that was america today. the dow surged 308 points on news of the fiscal cliff deal.

congress patted itself on the back. why wouldn't they? that was a big reward. the problem is, the truth. congress sent america to the bottom of the chasm because like homer we're lying battered and bruised at the bottom. why? instead of cutting spending and raising revenue, which was the point, congress did the exact opposite. boosting spending and slashing revenue. they increased the deficit. that is the ultimate cliff dive. the congressional budget office put these numbers out. they say the deal everybody celebrated will increase deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade because by extending the bush tax cuts for families who earn less than $450,000 a year the deal cut revenue, money they would have otherwise paid in taxes by $3.64 trillion and on top of that it increased other spending by an additional $332 billion. that deal was really just a small band-aid on america's battered body.

all it did was kick the can for two months on the automatic spending cuts that were set to go into effect today. truth is, congress didn't have the courage to deal with the plan now, and left us at the bottom of the precipice but only they can get this country out. the problem is if the deal they just did was the best they could do on the last day of a lame duck session where a lot of people didn't have to worry about re-election, where the deadline the entire world was watching and judging them on, how can we expect them to solve the problem in two months a it a new cliff deadline? after all, they've had a lot of chances. there was a debt ceiling in the summer of 2011. remember that whole negotiation to try to get a grand bargain? they failed. this country got downgraded. they had another chance with the supercommittee, which was charged with cutting the debt. it failed and that failure led to this fiscal cliff deadline, which was supposed to be so draconian and frightening. it would force a grand bargain on taxes and entitlement processes. we know there are a lot of smart and thoughtful people in congress. people who know the right thing to do, might cost them

re-election and are willing to lose because of that. i believe that as an american citizen, but if this deadline didn't get them to step up, what will? outfront tonight, bill gross. pimco is the largest mutual fund. bill, always good to see you. you know -- >> thank you, erin. >> it's sort of a depressing situation in a sense. you look at this kicking the can down the road for another two months. we got another cliff coming. the whole debt ceiling debate coming again. how dangerous is the current situation? >> well, i think it's very dangerous. you just mentioned that the point in time where we have a debt ceiling, the government has to have what they call a continuing budget resolution. they need to fix the sequester, which they didn't fix. so they have three data points in the next two months in which something has to be done. we've seen what happens in this case over a long weekend, so it's a dangerous situation and i perhaps not like homer simpson, i don't want to say doh, but

it's fair to say that taxes on all americans have gone up here over the past few days. the average american wage earner earning $50,000 a year will pay $1,000 more in taxes over the next 12 months, so not only have they not reduced spending, but they've increased taxes for basically 100% of americans. >> which is something obviously people -- this isn't the time to do that. you may need to do that when the economy's stronger, but not yet. but how do we get to the -- but we've talked about how supercommittee, they are going to cut $4 trillion. simpson bowles said $4 trillion. all that big a down payment on the much bigger problem. the imf has pointed out. a $16 trillion problem in this country. we can't even get a deal now that cuts anything. we've increased the deficit. >> we did that. and as well, which hasn't been publicized.

they continued $75,000 billion worth of tax breaks for tv and film, for basically, puerto rican rum companies and for, you know, other wind farm, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. the congress is in a gift giving mode and not in a reduce spending mode, which they need to do. you point out a number of the trillion dollars they have to reduce, you know, they've basically raise it $100 billion worth of taxes here on an annual basis. we think they have to reduce spending by two to three hundred billion dollars a year. and that's just a down payment. it's a fairly pathetic situation and a situation in which the american public is is having less and less faith in terms of their ability to act. >> and i guess the question is what about people like you and your faith because as long as you still have faith, you buy american bonds, this country can still borrow for basically nothing and that enables congress to keep spending money

and saying there's no problem. don't worry about downgrades, but at some point, people like you are going to say america may not pay us back. we can't necessarily trust america. i'm going to charge you a much higher interest rate. than that could crush this country. will that day ever come? >> well, i think it's inevitable. at this point, to be fair, the federal reserve is buying about 80% of all of the treasuries that are issued. they're writing checks for a trillion dollars worth of fed purchases to fund the treasury, but at some point, you know, investors and federal reserve will run out of check writing room. inflation will increase and the deficit will just sink us down in terms of an economy. >> steven englander said the situation -- the whole process that we went through, as you said, pathetic that we're likely to see a further u.s. downgrade at some point. again, i caveat it with the u.s.

got downgraded and the interest rating haven't risen. maybe that's because the rest of the world is worse off than the u.s. and being relatively good isn't necessarily being strong. what's the likelihood the u.s. gets downgraded again and in a way that could really affect all of us? >> well you know, erin, agencies have stated they would affirm ratings of negotiations to lead to policies which lower the debt to gtp ratios. it's a little technical. and clearly, they have not. we have not seen that over the weekend. but i wouldn't expect the agencies to do, to hold things here. they've proven in the past to do the bidding of clients as opposed to investor, but investors should wise up before the agencies wise up. perhaps a few years down the road. the situation is deteriorating and the happy, good feelings that homer simpson expresses, you know, if your opening cartoon, basically are something

to be concerned about. >> all right. bill gross, thank you very much. we appreciate your time. pathetic situation an one that must be remedied. next, the chris christie storm over sandy relief. he took a direct and ferocious stab at john boehner. that's one reason some are calling for boehner to lose his speaker's job tomorrow. the showdown and the development in the health condition of the secretary of state hillary clinton. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do

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our second story "outfront," house speaker john boehner in an about face today announced he's going to hold a vote friday on a bill that will provide relief for sandy victims. this is after he allowed congress to adjourn last night. it shocked many and led to a public smack down by fellow republicans. >> in our hour of desperate need, we've been left waiting for help six times longer than the victims of katrina with no end in sight. americans are tired of the palace intrigue and political

partisanship of this congress which places oneupsmanship ahead of the lives of these citizens who sent these people to washington, d.c. in the first place. new jerseyians and new yorkers are are tired of being treated like second class citizens. new york deserves better than the selfishness we saw last night. new jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw on display last night. america deserves better than just another example of a government that has forgotten who they're there to serve and why. 66 days and counting. shame on you. shame on congress. disaster relief was something that you didn't play games with. but now in the current atmosphere, everything is the subject of oneupsmanship. everything is a possibility, a potential piece of bait for the political game and it's just --

it is why the american people hate congress. >> republican congressman peter king of new york said that john boehner's action was like a knife in the back and had threatened not to vote for him for speaker again. >> what was most galling about this is that within ten days of katrina, we gladly voted $60 billion and went over 100 billion ultimately. it's now nine weeks since sandy struck long island and new york, new jersey and we have not gotten a penny from the united states congress and we play by the rules. >> new jersey and new york were among the hardest hit by superstorm sandy, the hardest hit. and of course, they are states that send a lot more to washington than they get back. "outfront" tonight, gregory meeks of new york, he represents a district that suffered some of the most damage. a lot of people below the poverty line and aren't able to have that big megaphone and ask for what they need. the speaker says now he's going

to schedule a vote on friday for about $9 billion in flood insurance and then on the 15th of january, so another ten days away. 13 days away, is going to have another $51 billion. is this good enough for you? >> you know, i'm nervous. because we thought we had a deal last night. we were fully expecting to vote on that today. we don't want the rules to change. going to have a new congress now. we thought this would have been done in the 112th. now it goes over to the 113th. so i hope the speaker will be able to deliver the votes that we knew that we had last night. so that the package will pass. we know he will deliver the $9 billion tomorrow and then that will leave -- with in the bill and we got the bill for the additional $18 billion for the 27 and then the amendment for another 33 billion all of which will be done if the speaker keeps his word on the 15th of january. >> i know everyone's been criticizing john boehner, but it's not just disaster relief.

that's always the problem. part of what america hates about congress is when disaster relief comes along, it's an opportunity to stick all sorts of other junk for lack of a better word, into a bill. so they had into the $60 billion aid package that went through the senate that would have helped on sandy, $150 million for fisheries in alaska. $41 million for bases in guantanamo. and $2 million to repair roof damage on the smithsonian damage in washington that predates the storm. not huge amounts of the scheme of america, but why is that in this bill? >> it wasn't and that's what was disheartening and why my colleagues, peter king and michael grimm worked so hard. the speaker said there were certain things in the senate bill. and it was taken out of the house bill, so those items are not in the house bill. the mayor, the governors, both christie and cuomo came and made sure, they itemized everything and those items were not included in the house bill.

>> all right, so those are taken out. that's one good thing. but then what about the overall question. we're in an environment where a fiscal cliff deal comes along and nobody's really thrilled about what they got, but we did get something that increases deficits and people who wants cuts and spending go how can bewe go and no matter how good the cause and spend another $60 billion. >> emergency disaster funding have always been different. we are americans. and when americans are in trouble because of a national disaster, we come to one another's aids. what we were concerned about, and all of us jointly, democrats and republicans. individuals from new york, connecticut, new jersey, but we also had colleagues come from around the country, is that why change the standards now? because the standards have been the same. that's what we're asking for is the same fairness. when katrina happened i was one that said let's do it. within ten days. $60 billion was there. when there's a small town, where there's a tornado or some other national disaster, we say let's do it. that's what makes america different.

and here, we have now -- >> 66 days. >> 66 days and counting. individuals who are still without power out of their homes. individuals who are still suffering from this storm and it seems as though the rules are trying to change. the speaker did not allow a vote on the floor when we thought we had an agreement. so my, and i think that's why you saw the unanimous between democrats and republicans. >> you and michael grimm. yes. >> because we're asking for fairness. when you go and talk to the people in my district as you have and you can look into their eyes and see their hurt. and that's why i asked in my statement on the flood today, i was asking the speaker to come walk with me. come talk to these people as mr. hoyer. come walk with michael grimm or peter king or come walk with governor cuomo or governor

christie. and you'll see you're talking to these people and you'll know they're not a democrat or a republican. you're talking to an american. that's what's important. we should kick aside all of the political gains that we play in washington, d.c. when it comes time for disaster, to help our american citizens. >> thank you very much. possessing what police say is a terrorist encyclopedia. the couple, are in police custody. they've been charged with felony possession of an explosive with intent to use and felony criminal possession of a weapon. susan candiotti is "outfront" with their story. >> it's not the kind of activity you'd expect in an apartment in a posh section of manhattan, but when police raided their apartment in greenwich village

they found explosive material called hmtd and chemicals used to make it along with two shotguns, a flair gun, and high capacity magazines. >> hmtd is extremely volatile. and that's why the building was evacuated and -- put on note because of the ability of this to just go off at any given time. >> as shocking, the suspects come from successful families. aaron green's father is a successful business owner. morgan's dad is a well-known doctor who owns the building where the two lived rent free. green's lawyer declined to comment. a law enforcement source says the two met in rehab and that her family believes green was the instigator. what appears to have been going on? >> we're still trying to determine precisely what was going on.

but obviously the biggest cause for concern was the explosive. >> hmtd is a signature al qaeda dom-making material. it was used successfully in the 2005 london subway bombing attack. convicted new york city subway plotter tried to use it but had trouble making it. >> it's a highly unstable bomb making element that is so unstable that terrorists have tended in the past to steer away from it because it's difficult to transport and to handle and can easily go off. >> police were turned on to the suspects by a tip. the alleged bomb makers invited a couple over to their apartment nearby to use the showers. that's when aaron green allegedly showed off the weapons and even blew up a small amount of explosives, right there in the apartment. law enforcement sources say the incident happened six weeks ago and authorities suspect the tipster might have been moved to call police after the newtown

school shooting. did they have a beef against anyone? against the government? any writings? what are you trying to find out about them? >> we're trying to identify precisely as you said, was there a target? was there a cause that they were adhering to? what was the objective, the goal of having all of this information and weaponry? >> certainly seems very bizarre. when you look at these two people, 27 and 31 years old. did either of them have a criminal background? just come out of the blue? >> not as far as we know in terms of the young woman in this case. now, the young man has four prior convictions. even spent a year in jail back in 2005 on an assault charge. now, law enforcement sources tell us they met in rehab. she was in there for -- being treated for alcoholism. he was been treated for heroin use. where it went from there, they're still trying to piece it together. >> still trying to figure out what their cause was and what

they might have been targeting. >> what was it all about? they haven't yet entered a plea just yet. she's still in the hospital because she just gave birth the other day to a baby. >> which is one of the most bizarre parts about the story. >> thanks very much. keep following the story since it is very strange and frightening. outfront next many republicans broke ranks with the speaker of the house last night. they voted against the fiscal cliff deal. it was a pretty overwhelming repudiation of him. so, does that mean he's going to be speaker anymore? and new information about hillary clinton tonight. diarrhea, gas, bloating? yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. live the regular life. phillips'.

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welcome back to the second half of "outfront." we start with stories we're watching tonight, secretary of state hillary clinton has just been released from a new york city hospital. she had been being treated for a blood clot located between her brain and her skull. according to the state department, doctors expect her to make a full recovery. she was seen out of the hospital today. former president bill clinton and daughter, chelsea, were by her side. and earlier today, a spokesperson said shed was on the phone speaking with aides and foreign officials. the united nations came out with a stunning number today, estimating the death toll in syria has passed 60,000 people since the uprising began just over 18 months ago. now, just to put this in perspective, 60,000 is a lot of people.

every one of them a human life and is it 15,000 more lives lost than cnn had previousliest -- previously estimated, a huge increase. the u.n. high commissioner for human rights said collectively, we have fiddled at the edges while syria burns. tom corbett plans to file a lawsuit against the ncaa. he has the agency had no -- authority to bring sanctions against penn state following the sandusky sex abuse scandal. they levied heavy sanctions against the university, including a $60 million fine. he said the sanctions are hurting curt students. -- current students. the ncaa fired back saying the lawsuit lacks merit and called it an affront to all of sandusky's victims. we got a rare glimpse today of -- who is is she? the wife of kim jong-un. this is a picture of them over the holidays. you can see her there in the

purple sort of eggplant suit. north korean television say she accompanied her husband at a concert. she had rarely been seen in public in recent months. there had been rumors she was pregnant or had fallen out of favor with north korean leaders. she tends to wear bright colors. she's very pretty to look at. it has been 517 days since the united states lost its top credit rating. the fiscal cliff deal likely will not help. a despite dodging the cliff technically, the problem deficits increase with the deal and moody's reiterated today a downgrade from them is on the horizon if congress does not come up with a long-term debt reduction plan. and that brings us to our fourth story "outfront," speaker in the hot seat. a message loud and clear to john boehner this week, do not take your party's support for granted. 151 republicans, 151, broke ranks with boehner and voted against the fiscal cliff deal. those republicans include some very powerful figures. eric cantor, kevin mccarthy,

second and third highest ranking republicans in the house among them. a new congress is sworn in tomorrow, so boehner facing a crucial vote. whether he gets to continue to be the speaker of the house. will there be a revolt against him or despite some very public failures and the fact he wasn't even at the center of this whole debt deal itself, will he just sail into the speakership any way? this is a pretty, you know, amazing story. there's been a real repudiation, but how is this vote going to go ? >> what's so interesting is that people may not realize is that the speaker of the house is elected by the entire house, not just his or her party. so there will be a vote in the house floor tomorrow. and what is going to be really fascinating to watch, erin is how the vote goes because the difference between republicans and democrats if you do the math if all the democrats voted against him all any opponent

would need to do is get 17 republicans to vote against him and what then happens is he doesn't get the majority and they take another vote and if he doesn't get the majority they take another vote. it certainly would weaken him. i can also tell you it is certainly the buzz here in the hallways in a big way. whether or not he is going to, and whether or not there is any quiet move among some of the rank and file republicans who are dissatisfied with with him to try to do that. to try to weaken him. at least symbolically, to vote against him. i have had some quiet conversations with some republicans who say they have not decided if they're going to vote for him. they have said they are not satisfied with his leadership. having said that, the vast majority say that they are satisfied with his leadership and it was a very telling moment thathe speaker's spokespeople came out after meeting that is going on right now. it's a procedural meeting that

the republicans are having. excuse me, they came out to make sure to tell reporters they believe they're confident that the speaker will be re-elected by the house tomorrow. >> when we talk about john boehner, everyone would say if there is a quiet revolt, if there is some sort of despite the repudiation of his leadership, it's still expected he's going to remain speaker. the question is, who would the alternative be? everyone's been thinking about eric cantor who came out and publicly said i don't support this deal and 151 republicans went along with him. so is eric cantor someone who possibly his name could come up here? >> he has been very careful, as have his aides, saying he is the supporting the speaker and he will vote for him tomorrow. that is that. no cantor coup in the works. and the truth is that if in fact there is something that shakes up the leadership, the thinking is that cantor would go with it. would go down with the leadership ship because those who want a change would want a

sea change and it is hard to see cantor staying there. you really raise a good point that all this talk about will won't the speaker stay in his job, won't he? well, you have to have a speaker, so if not boehner, who? that is another discussion i'm having privately with a lot of republicans even tonight in the hallways here is that they just don't see who would be the person to replace him, who would be the guy who would be out there. >> all right. thank you very much. obviously dissatisfaction but the question, who could be better? who will back boehner and who won't? "outfront," someone who's going to make the decision. republican congressman james langford of oklahoma. new congress is sworn in tomorrow. you're going to be the chairman of the house republican committee. you are in leadership. as you just heard dana lay out, john boehner could lose just because of the way the math works. if just 17 republicans vote against him. do you support john boehner?

>> i do, actually. i just walked out of that meeting she just referenced that dana just mentioned saying it was internal procedure setting up the rules for the house. there was actually no conversation at all of any type about a lack of support for john boehner. >> let me just understand why that is though because in the recent key moments of leadership, john boehner has not been able to deliver, right? there was the plan b right before christmas. that he was going to put out and couldn't even get back to the floor for his own party and then in the fiscal cliff deal, he was the guy doing the negotiating and wasn't able to get it done. then senator mcconnell had to step in. if john boehner couldn't get that done, why is he going to be speaker? >> here's the challenge of it. the house passed sequestration documents in may. and we passed our tax documents in august and then we went through the process. the mistake that was made and we're waiting on the senate to respond. he shouldn't have done face to face negotiations, get this out of regular order.

the best way to accomplish a piece of legislation, and then house to pass something and the senate to pass something and we work on a compromise together between the two. that breaks down when the speaker begins to meet with president. or quite frankly, when you get down to the last 36 hours, it's better to be able to push it and the speaker said i'm going to try to get us back to regular order and top doing these face to faces. >> one of the things that makes a speaker credible and powerful and push forward the agenda is all of you. the other leadership. the rank and file falling behind him at tough moments. the fiscal cliff bill put out, you said you support john boehner but you voted against that bill that he brought to the floor. so in a sense people like you are the ones eroding his leadership. >> here's the difference between speaker boehner and other speakers that have been there in the past. he doesn't demand unanimity behind him.

he starts with you represent your district. you have to vote you district and represent your district and do that in the best wisdom you have coming out of your district. he doesn't demand unanimity. he demands we represent the people that elected us, then come here and get things done. some people, that completely throws them off. and they want to see this strong leader that demands everyone follow behind him. he's comfortable enough to say i didn't elect you, the people at home elected you and you represent them. >> part of the problem with that, you as an elected leader must experience this all the time. if you just did what your constituents wanted we are like kids. we want candy. we want tax cuts. we want more spending. that's what we want. that's what the fiscal cliff bill does. i know you voted against it, but isn't the whole point that sometimes as a member of congress, you don't necessarily vote for what your constituents think they want. you vote for what you think is best for the country? >> that is correct. but still based on the wisdom coming out of our own district. you're going to listen to not

just the advice coming out of your district, but the collective common sense. you should do your research. i should know more about the bill than anyone back home. i have more access to data, but at the end of the day i still represent what's going on back home. but that's right. there are going to be times and i have taken votes that have taken a lot of heat back home for how i took that vote but it's i knew more about what was going on here because i was able to get more data here. again, speaker's comfortable with that and that's a wise leader i think. >> we appreciate it. "outfront" next, a girl in brazil put her virginity up for sale. shasta darling talked to her and asked her why. and with the fiscal cliff the president now adopted a tough tone strong saying he will not tolerate dissent on a crucial issue. is it a big mistake? 315 horsepower. what's that in reindeer-power? [ laughs ]

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we're back with tonight's outer circle where we reach out to our sources around the world and tonight, we begin in brazil where a young woman has decided to sell her virginity to the highest bidder. shasta darlington is following the story and i asked her why. >> a brazilian high school student has put her virginity up for sale. 18-year-old rebecca said she did it out of desperation. she made a video, she posted it on youtube hoping to raise enough money to help her inova lid mother, but the inspiration came from another brazilian woman whose offer to sell her

virginity brought a lot of publicity and lucrative modeling contracts. in the case of rebecca, she said she made the decision after her mother suffered a stroke, which left her confined to the bed. she can't eat or go to the bathroom alone, but the video set off a fire storm around brazil and especially in -- the reaction in many cases was hostile. now, rebecca says she wants enough money not only to care for her mother, but to start a new life in a new town. >> thanks very much. horrible story. and now we go to northern nigeria which is where the country's military has killed 13 members of -- a militant organization that has some ties or links to al qaeda. it happened after the group slaughtered several dozen people in the region over the past two weeks. david mckenzie has been covering the story and i asked him who was killed. >> since christmas eve, the violence in northern nigeria, has been brutal.

more than 30 dead, 27 of them christian worshippers at church services. many gunned down by militants, their churches burned, some slip to nigerian government officials. the group blamed the militant islamic group that wants to install strict sharia law. recently, the group's leaders have expressed solidarity with al qaeda. rights groups say the government's response is dominated by killings and corruptions and has only worked to inflame further revenge attacks. a charge the government denies. ultimately, negotiations to long standing grievances on both sides could be only long-term solution, but right now, violence appears to be speaking louder than any words. and now president obama's tough talk. while we're waiting for the president to sign that fiscal cliff bill into law he has moved on.

he has drawn a dark line in the sand over the battle for the debt ceiling. >> while i will negotiate over many things i will not have another debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills they have racked up through the laws they have passed. >> he is right. congress has spent the money they are not going to pay back. but that's not the point. can he just say i'm not going to negotiate on it. that's the limit. here he is. >> i'm not going to ask students and seniors and middle class families to pay down the entire deficit while people like me

making over $250,000 aren't asked to pay a dime more in taxes. i'm not going to do that. >> how congress is going to pass a law that would prevent a tax hike on the first $250,000 of everybody's income. >> he said i'm not going to do that. $250,000 is the limit. he's doing it. you can't say you're not going to negotiate on something you will have to negotiate on. >> it's called a negotiating position. we see it all the time. how many times do you have people negotiating a personal contract say i'm not going to take less than this and they do. that's what negotiate is about. the whole point of having a hardened stance is to force the opposition to come down on theirs. speaker boehner put out a proposal that said taxes on $1 million. even his own party rejected that. this is what you do in negotiations. take a hard line and then of

course you typically are going to soften it when you get a compromise. >> the problem is now the president has chastised congress and said i'm not going to negotiate on it. is this going to enbolden them to make a bigger stink? >> most of the republican members of the house are coming from safety districts. they are keeping in mind their primary challengers. what they have to answer to is to conservative primary voters. but when you look at president obama sitting in a cave on that $250,000 number the thing to keep in mind is a successful political coalition creates problems and opportunities. when president barack obama does really well with those upper middle class voters in the suburbs that means you have tax sensitive voters than you do otherwise. that creates tensions for him as well. he is saying that i'm going to

get more tax increases if i'm going to accept any spending cuts this time around. but there are a lot of democrats who are happy with that $400,000 line as well. these fractures among democrats as well as the hard position of republicans. >> smart position that he took or no? >> every compromise is not a cave. but in this instance the president is saying he's not going to negotiate around the debt ceiling. as you said at the outset the debt ceiling is going to come due and the republicans are going to use that as leverage to force a grand bargain. but what the president is saying he made a political calculation that if republicans want to try to hold the nation's full credit hostage and take us over the debt limit and have us default they have to own that politically. he is not just reflecting the lessons he learned from the first term he is saying -- hold on, roland, he is trying to make

an important point that that is a bad precedent. what we went through 500 days ago, that was a dangerous precedent for the united states and he wants to send the message that will be delinked going forward. we cannot proceed in that way any further. >> roland? >> if owe go back to what happened last time they were late in the game using president ronald reagan's own words when it came to the debt ceiling. what the president has done with the fiscal cliff said no we're only dealing with taxes. with the debt ceiling he says we're only dealing with the debt ceiling. if you want to debate when it comes to cuts we'll deal with that when it comes to sequestration. that 60 day pushing out that's what he has done. the republicans want spending cuts to be a part of fiscal cliff and debt ceiling and sequestration he is saying no, put it in one area. it's a smart tactical move. we'll see if he can keep them at

bay. >> president obama when he was senator obama voted against raising the debt limit as well. they use the limited leverage they have and barack obama recognized that in the past and thinks that should be taken off the table. that's fair enough. this is connected to the sequester deal as well. he will need goodwill from republicans to get movement on the sequester as well. these things are not going to be easily separated. >> but the key is incumbent on the president to be aggressive and work with them and offer entitlement reform. >> delinking them doesn't make sense. >> they are coming due at the same time. >> they are coming due at the same time and they are the same issue. >> that's right. he's going to have to reach out early and aggressively to get a grand bargain or we'll have a game of chicken. and you know what happened last time. we were downgraded.

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there's a reason i came back from vacation on wednesday it's hump day. the perfect day for a camel report. what a report it is. after 15 straight days of festivals, celebrations and nail biting competitions, abu dhabi's

festival has come to a close. it was the sixth annual event that also featured dog races, you saw a falcon, date packing and falconry. the camel beauty pageant is the crown jewel event. look at them. they are wearing crowns. now with over 1500 camel drivers and 25,000 camels in attendance this was the biggest event ever. it might sound silly to some but this is very serious business. the judges at the competition are some of the top camel experts in the world and before the competition can begin every trainer must take an oath on the quran to make sure there's no cheating. there's a strict scoring system in place that awards points. the head is 25 points. the front 15. the back 10. the hump 25. should be even more. it all comes down to the hump doesn't it. maybe the prize money will sway you. up for grabs was about $12 million.

for having a beautiful camel. and on top of that, 100 luxury automobiles were given away. even though this is a camel competition millions of cash and prizes sure is nothing to spit at. piers morgan tonight is next. you know,that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips,

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